Sadler and Stewart are nipped early

It didn't take long for the repaved racetrack to bite someone.

The race was barely a lap in before Emporia's Elliott Sadler turned into Tony Stewart entering Turn 1. Both slid along the wall.

"I just made a huge mistakes. I just went in too low into Turn 1," said Sadler as he waited for his crew to repair his No. 19 Dodge. "I was actually trying to give Tony more room, and I just got loose under him and spun up into him.

"I've never had any problem with Tony. I know [Stewart] is pretty upset with me right now."

Stewart pulled alongside Sadler while under caution, then angrily pointed an accusing finger.

The wreck dropped Stewart to 40th after he started fourth. Sadler's car was extensively damaged. Sadler, who made his best start (seventh) since Phoenix, returned later but was 119 laps down.

Stewart had hoped to sweep both races this weekend. He won the first time here on Friday night when he captured the checkered flag in the Nationwide event, which ended with a green-white checkered finish.

Sadler has been sidelined by an accident or engine failure in three of the past four races. He finished 20th but two laps back at Richmond International Raceway last Saturday.

Burton struggles to keep up

South Boston's Jeff Burton entered the race as the only driver to have completed every lap this season. But he struggled to keep up pace as the No. 31 Chervolet had a tough time navigating the corners.

Burton, like nearly a third of the field, hit the wall twice. Still, he was running near the top 10 midway through the race.

Busch, Earnhardt are back at it

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. found themselves bumper to fender again early in the race. Earnhardt led 15 laps before surrendering the lead to Busch. They came close to tapping doors in Turn 2 on Lap 30, but cooler heads prevailed.

Busch and Earnhardt led on several occasions. While Earnhardt may have been watching Busch, it was his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, who bumped him into the wall but kept the No. 88 Chevrolet under control.

Tires: promises, promises

Nearly all the drivers were pleased with tires Goodyear opted to provide them this weekend. There were few incidents during practice or qualifying to indicate any problems.

But race conditions on the freshly repaved Darlington racetrack added a little more stress on the tires. Sam Hornish Jr. experienced those problems early on.

"I'm pretty sure that we had a right-front tire go down," said Hornish, who brushed the wall on Lap 13. "I went down in there, and the front end, as soon as I turned in it, just went straight.

"The car was handling real good. The days when we feel like we're really out to lunch, we kind of go out and run without a hitch, and then the days we feel like we're going to go out there and get a top-15, top-10 runs, we have problems."

Lug nuts

Kyle Busch had led only one lap here in three previous starts. He led 76 laps through 140. . . . Kevin Harvick hit the wall on Lap 146. He went to the garage having led only one lap in the past six races. -- Ralph N. Paulk